Rain Partier

John Snow wrote:I still don't get why they don't euthanize old people or at the very least make them take driving tests.

She didn't know who she was, where she was, what to do...she didn't even remember she had a daughter when I was trying to figure out who to call for her. She wasn't hurt physically either, but I had to call the paramedics because she was not there at all.

Rain Partier

John Snow wrote:I still don't get why they don't euthanize old people or at the very least make them take driving tests.

She didn't know who she was, where she was, what to do...she didn't even remember she had a daughter when I was trying to figure out who to call for her. She wasn't hurt physically either, but I had to call the paramedics because she was not there at all.

The Red Stands for Irony

I was going to write a longer review for this, but honestly, this book just really wasn't worth a longer review.

This is your a-typical Deadpool story. Like all Deadpool features, it features a half dozen metatextual jokes, at least one breaking the fourth wall reference, and plenty of mayhem and destruction. The story is confusing if you didn't know it was out of continuity and boring once you figure out that little tidbit. The art is serviceable but not spectuacular.

The Red Stands for Irony

I was going to write a longer review for this, but honestly, this book just really wasn't worth a longer review.

This is your a-typical Deadpool story. Like all Deadpool features, it features a half dozen metatextual jokes, at least one breaking the fourth wall reference, and plenty of mayhem and destruction. The story is confusing if you didn't know it was out of continuity and boring once you figure out that little tidbit. The art is serviceable but not spectuacular.

Zombie Guard

Brian Wood is a writer doing his best to give single issue storytelling a place in comics today, and Northlanders hasn't had a truly stand-alone issue a full year, so after the epic Plague Widow story we're treated to this one-off story of a Viking navigator having something of a mid-life crisis at sea.

This story of men lost at sea in the hunt for new lands was brilliantly done. The fishy hallucinations, the shock and awe in Iceland and downbeat prophetic ending all worked perfectly and the pitch black humour that has occasionally popped up here really pepped up the comic. A nice breather after the magnificently depressing story that preceded it.

Fiona Staples is new to me, but her art here is wonderful. She was given a lot of water to draw and it never manages to look boring. The single panels of scenery and the wonderful depictions of some badass natural wonders aren't something you get a lot of in mainstream comics and her art ranks right up there with Northlanders' typical top notch work.

In a week where I grabbed a lot of my favourite books, this was easily the best. A very underrated title with a very unusual set-up, Northlanders is yet to disappoint me and this would be an excellent issue to not disappoint you.

9

Wait. Deadwhat? Wade Wilson's who? #Which? Oh that. Apparently I forgot all about that as soon as I put it down. That gets a different number because I liked the art.
3

Zombie Guard

Brian Wood is a writer doing his best to give single issue storytelling a place in comics today, and Northlanders hasn't had a truly stand-alone issue a full year, so after the epic Plague Widow story we're treated to this one-off story of a Viking navigator having something of a mid-life crisis at sea.

This story of men lost at sea in the hunt for new lands was brilliantly done. The fishy hallucinations, the shock and awe in Iceland and downbeat prophetic ending all worked perfectly and the pitch black humour that has occasionally popped up here really pepped up the comic. A nice breather after the magnificently depressing story that preceded it.

Fiona Staples is new to me, but her art here is wonderful. She was given a lot of water to draw and it never manages to look boring. The single panels of scenery and the wonderful depictions of some badass natural wonders aren't something you get a lot of in mainstream comics and her art ranks right up there with Northlanders' typical top notch work.

In a week where I grabbed a lot of my favourite books, this was easily the best. A very underrated title with a very unusual set-up, Northlanders is yet to disappoint me and this would be an excellent issue to not disappoint you.

9

Wait. Deadwhat? Wade Wilson's who? #Which? Oh that. Apparently I forgot all about that as soon as I put it down. That gets a different number because I liked the art.
3

Wrasslin' Fan

BlueStreak wrote:I was going to write a longer review for this, but honestly, this book just really wasn't worth a longer review.

This is your a-typical Deadpool story. Like all Deadpool features, it features a half dozen metatextual jokes, at least one breaking the fourth wall reference, and plenty of mayhem and destruction. The story is confusing if you didn't know it was out of continuity and boring once you figure out that little tidbit. The art is serviceable but not spectuacular.

Story: 5Art: 5Overall: 5

Oh crap I didn't even realize it wasn't in continuity, oh yeah this is a very meh deadpool story

Wrasslin' Fan

BlueStreak wrote:I was going to write a longer review for this, but honestly, this book just really wasn't worth a longer review.

This is your a-typical Deadpool story. Like all Deadpool features, it features a half dozen metatextual jokes, at least one breaking the fourth wall reference, and plenty of mayhem and destruction. The story is confusing if you didn't know it was out of continuity and boring once you figure out that little tidbit. The art is serviceable but not spectuacular.

Story: 5Art: 5Overall: 5

Oh crap I didn't even realize it wasn't in continuity, oh yeah this is a very meh deadpool story

OMCTO

WADE WILSON'S WAR #2 has two problems. The first problem is that it's supposed to be funny, but it isn't. Funny dialogue in comics is hard to pull off. That's because comics don't have any comic delivery or any comic timing. It has to be funny on the page, because it isn't going to be made funnier by a talented actor or a wacky sound effect. For the most part, the lines in this book are flat and uninspired. They certainly aren't amusing, quotable lines a la Oscar Wilde or Joe Orton.

The only somewhat funny moment in the book happens when Deadpool is unmasked and it's revealed that he's Michael Jackson … well, actually, that he's wearing a Michael Jackson mask under his superhero mask. This moment works because it's a visual gag. Michael Jackson had a strange, effeminate face, and placing that face on a superhuman body looks funny. If Swiercznski could have incorporated more visual gags into the story, maybe the overall book would have worked. But one successful gag just ain't enough to make this a funny comic.

My second problem with the book is that it's an origins story, where we know the outcome already -- Wade Wilson becomes Deadpool -- and so it's a story without any suspense. As far as I'm concerned, these kinds of origins stories should be avoided as much as possible. And if they are told at all, they should be inserted into a larger story and should take up no more than a page or two. Because let's be honest, these origins are usually not very entertaining.

Yes, I know Barry Windsor-Smith's WEAPON X and Frank Miller's BATMAN: YEAR ONE are classics, considered by many to be the best Wolverine and Batman stories ever told, respectively. And both tell origins where the endings are already known. Don't these books show that a retelling of a hero's early days can be worth exploring? Yes, sure. But both of these books go well beyond the predictability of the origins genre and tell stories that, above all, add a new dimension to these much-loved heroes. If Wolverine is, at times, a mindless killer, we understand why that's the case after reading WEAPON X.

WADE WILSON'S WAR, by contrast, brings nothing new to the Deadpool character. He's the same wacky, nihilistic guy that he's always been. It's just more of the same, but in a story where the ending is already known. There is, in other words, nothing to make this book interesting, except the occasional gag. But as I said before, there's only one gag in this book that actually works.

If there's one good thing about this comic, it's the art. Jason Pearson draws with energy and style, giving all the characters a manic vibrancy. My only complaint is that he draws almost every character at some point with his mouth hanging open. I understand that Pearson is trying to ham up his illustrations and create a silly look. But he draws the same expression one too many times and, after a while, it just looks as though every character is about to vomit.

Who knows? Maybe they all realize that they're trapped in a terribly pointless and unnecessary book.

OMCTO

WADE WILSON'S WAR #2 has two problems. The first problem is that it's supposed to be funny, but it isn't. Funny dialogue in comics is hard to pull off. That's because comics don't have any comic delivery or any comic timing. It has to be funny on the page, because it isn't going to be made funnier by a talented actor or a wacky sound effect. For the most part, the lines in this book are flat and uninspired. They certainly aren't amusing, quotable lines a la Oscar Wilde or Joe Orton.

The only somewhat funny moment in the book happens when Deadpool is unmasked and it's revealed that he's Michael Jackson … well, actually, that he's wearing a Michael Jackson mask under his superhero mask. This moment works because it's a visual gag. Michael Jackson had a strange, effeminate face, and placing that face on a superhuman body looks funny. If Swiercznski could have incorporated more visual gags into the story, maybe the overall book would have worked. But one successful gag just ain't enough to make this a funny comic.

My second problem with the book is that it's an origins story, where we know the outcome already -- Wade Wilson becomes Deadpool -- and so it's a story without any suspense. As far as I'm concerned, these kinds of origins stories should be avoided as much as possible. And if they are told at all, they should be inserted into a larger story and should take up no more than a page or two. Because let's be honest, these origins are usually not very entertaining.

Yes, I know Barry Windsor-Smith's WEAPON X and Frank Miller's BATMAN: YEAR ONE are classics, considered by many to be the best Wolverine and Batman stories ever told, respectively. And both tell origins where the endings are already known. Don't these books show that a retelling of a hero's early days can be worth exploring? Yes, sure. But both of these books go well beyond the predictability of the origins genre and tell stories that, above all, add a new dimension to these much-loved heroes. If Wolverine is, at times, a mindless killer, we understand why that's the case after reading WEAPON X.

WADE WILSON'S WAR, by contrast, brings nothing new to the Deadpool character. He's the same wacky, nihilistic guy that he's always been. It's just more of the same, but in a story where the ending is already known. There is, in other words, nothing to make this book interesting, except the occasional gag. But as I said before, there's only one gag in this book that actually works.

If there's one good thing about this comic, it's the art. Jason Pearson draws with energy and style, giving all the characters a manic vibrancy. My only complaint is that he draws almost every character at some point with his mouth hanging open. I understand that Pearson is trying to ham up his illustrations and create a silly look. But he draws the same expression one too many times and, after a while, it just looks as though every character is about to vomit.

Who knows? Maybe they all realize that they're trapped in a terribly pointless and unnecessary book.

Staff Writer

Brian Wood is a writer doing his best to give single issue storytelling a place in comics today, and Northlanders hasn't had a truly stand-alone issue a full year, so after the epic Plague Widow story we're treated to this one-off story of a Viking navigator having something of a mid-life crisis at sea.

This story of men lost at sea in the hunt for new lands was brilliantly done. The fishy hallucinations, the shock and awe in Iceland and downbeat prophetic ending all worked perfectly and the pitch black humour that has occasionally popped up here really pepped up the comic. A nice breather after the magnificently depressing story that preceded it.

Fiona Staples is new to me, but her art here is wonderful. She was given a lot of water to draw and it never manages to look boring. The single panels of scenery and the wonderful depictions of some badass natural wonders aren't something you get a lot of in mainstream comics and her art ranks right up there with Northlanders' typical top notch work.

In a week where I grabbed a lot of my favourite books, this was easily the best. A very underrated title with a very unusual set-up, Northlanders is yet to disappoint me and this would be an excellent issue to not disappoint you.

9

Wait. Deadwhat? Wade Wilson's who? #Which? Oh that. Apparently I forgot all about that as soon as I put it down. That gets a different number because I liked the art.3

Brian Wood is a writer doing his best to give single issue storytelling a place in comics today, and Northlanders hasn't had a truly stand-alone issue a full year, so after the epic Plague Widow story we're treated to this one-off story of a Viking navigator having something of a mid-life crisis at sea.

This story of men lost at sea in the hunt for new lands was brilliantly done. The fishy hallucinations, the shock and awe in Iceland and downbeat prophetic ending all worked perfectly and the pitch black humour that has occasionally popped up here really pepped up the comic. A nice breather after the magnificently depressing story that preceded it.

Fiona Staples is new to me, but her art here is wonderful. She was given a lot of water to draw and it never manages to look boring. The single panels of scenery and the wonderful depictions of some badass natural wonders aren't something you get a lot of in mainstream comics and her art ranks right up there with Northlanders' typical top notch work.

In a week where I grabbed a lot of my favourite books, this was easily the best. A very underrated title with a very unusual set-up, Northlanders is yet to disappoint me and this would be an excellent issue to not disappoint you.

9

Wait. Deadwhat? Wade Wilson's who? #Which? Oh that. Apparently I forgot all about that as soon as I put it down. That gets a different number because I liked the art.3

Zombie Guard

Anyway, I did review the book in question at the end. But if I tried to think of more words to describe I'd feel bad. People tend to pick books they like for the RG and I wouldn't wanna go nuts calling it terrible. So I thought I'd make a meta-joke on how forgettable it was by forgetting which book I was supposed to review. I think it was a bit too subtle though, since you're the seemingly first person who noticed.

Anyway, I did review the book in question at the end. But if I tried to think of more words to describe I'd feel bad. People tend to pick books they like for the RG and I wouldn't wanna go nuts calling it terrible. So I thought I'd make a meta-joke on how forgettable it was by forgetting which book I was supposed to review. I think it was a bit too subtle though, since you're the seemingly first person who noticed.

Staff Writer

Anyway, I did review the book in question at the end. But if I tried to think of more words to describe I'd feel bad. People tend to pick books they like for the RG and I wouldn't wanna go nuts calling it terrible. So I thought I'd make a meta-joke on how forgettable it was by forgetting which book I was supposed to review. I think it was a bit too subtle though, since you're the seemingly first person who noticed.

I get the joke your going for but it's like an actual full fledged review for another book which isn't the focus of the review group.

Anyway, I did review the book in question at the end. But if I tried to think of more words to describe I'd feel bad. People tend to pick books they like for the RG and I wouldn't wanna go nuts calling it terrible. So I thought I'd make a meta-joke on how forgettable it was by forgetting which book I was supposed to review. I think it was a bit too subtle though, since you're the seemingly first person who noticed.

I get the joke your going for but it's like an actual full fledged review for another book which isn't the focus of the review group.